Honestly, I just need help! Please :)

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ambrbrown
ambrbrown Posts: 14
in Health and Weight Loss
I really need help determining how many calories I should be eating per day. I have mine set at sedentary. I am generally sedentary for the major part of the day, and I walk on a treadmill 3-4 days a week for about 30-40 minutes. I started out at 256 lbs, and I am currently 217 lbs. I am 22 years old and 5'4. MFP tells me I should be eating around 1200 calories per day to lose 2 lbs per week. I am finding it hard to eat under 1200. I NEVER eat my exercise calories back because I do not truly feel like I burn that many calories. I tend to only go about 3.5-3.8 MPH. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Ok first you have your goal set too aggressively, there's no rush here. Second you don't want to eat UNDER you want to eat AT, plus a good half of what you earn from exercise.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    It might be time to change your deficit to 1.5 pounds per week, that way you'll have a larger amount to work with.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    If your goal is 1200 why are you eating less than that?

    You could always set MFP to a slower rate of loss to eat more, or increase your exercise.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    Try eating half of those exercise calories back. See how you do. :)
  • nit4kim
    nit4kim Posts: 1 Member
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    Look at this blog from ShannonMpls's blog: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ShannonMpls/view/tdee-exercise-calories-an-alternate-way-to-customize-mfp-goals-238045

    She gives great information. I have been following this for a month and have lost weight.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    It might be time to change your deficit to 1.5 pounds per week, that way you'll have a larger amount to work with.
    Not necessarily. I changed mine to 1.5 and it remained at 1200.

    It doesn't matter for me, because those numbers are not how I lose weight, but changing the number doesn't always change the calories. Just FYI. :)

  • AniLandSmiles
    AniLandSmiles Posts: 89 Member
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    I agree to the idea of changing your deficit to 1.5 pounds per week, or eat half of your calories back. Both very good suggestions.
  • ambrbrown
    ambrbrown Posts: 14
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    Thanks for the replies. One more question, does sedentary setting sound right for me? I walk only 3-4 days a week for about half an hour. Or should it be set as lightly active?
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    ambrbrown wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies. One more question, does sedentary setting sound right for me? I walk only 3-4 days a week for about half an hour. Or should it be set as lightly active?
    The setting isn't based on your exercise. It's based on your lifestyle outside of the exercise. That's why, if you exercise, it gives you more calories to eat. :)
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Activity level is based on everything you do outside of exercise, i.e. work, errands, cooking. It does not account for exercise, unless you follow the TDEE method.
  • ambrbrown
    ambrbrown Posts: 14
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    Kalikel wrote: »
    ambrbrown wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies. One more question, does sedentary setting sound right for me? I walk only 3-4 days a week for about half an hour. Or should it be set as lightly active?
    The setting isn't based on your exercise. It's based on your lifestyle outside of the exercise. That's why, if you exercise, it gives you more calories to eat. :)

    Ah. Okay. Thank you for the explanation.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
    edited October 2014
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    If you're going with sedentary and logging exercise separately, I'd say feel free to eat an additional 100-200 for the walks. 3.5-3.8mph is a pretty good pace. Your body is always burning energy, keep that in mind. If you're counting the walks in your activity, go with lightly activity and do not log them.

    The goal is to do this long term. Its a journey, not a weekend escape. Personally I could not eat 1200/day for long term. I did eat 1400-1600 total for 6+ months, then shifted to 1600-1800 (as I cut my deficit, when I was getting closer to goal.) That was doable. And I started out at 178.5, as a 39 year old. Your age & higher weight mean you automatically burn more than I did!

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